Maine Comics Arts Festival

The official blog for the Maine Comics Arts Festival. The festival will be held on Sunday, May 19th, 2013 in Portland, Maine. This event will feature writers, artists and publishers from the field of comics.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

The Maine Comics Arts Festival is pleased to announce our first featured guest for 2013. To celebrate the 5th year of MeCAF, we are extremely thrilled to announce that Jeff Smith will be joining us in 2013. Jeff Smith is the award winning creator of "Bone" and "Rasl".

The Maine Comics Arts Festival will be held in Portland, Maine on Sunday, May 19th, 2013.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

This year's Maine Comics Arts Festival will be held on Sunday, May 20th in Portland, Maine. We are very pleased to announce our first two featured guests.

Kate Beaton, creator of "Hark, A Vagrant" !

Hark! A Vagrant takes readers on a romp through history and literature—with dignity for few and cookies for all—with comic strips about famous authors, their characters, and political and historical figures, all drawn in Kate Beaton’s pared-down, excitable style. This collection features favorite stories as well as new, previously unpublished content. Whether she’s writing about Nikola Tesla, Napoleon, or Nancy Drew, Beaton brings a refined sense of the absurd to every situation.

In just four years, Beaton has taken the comics world by storm with her non sequiturs, cheeky comebacks, and irreverent punch lines. With 1.2 million monthly hits on her site—500,000 of them unique—and comics appearing in Harper’s Magazine, the National Post, and The New Yorker, her caricatures of historical and fictional figures filtered through a contemporary lens display a sharp, quick wit that knows no bounds.

Kazu Kibuishi is the author and illustrator of the popular Amulet graphic novel series for young readers, including Amulet 1: The Stonekeeper, which was honored with the Rhode Island Children's Book Award in 2010 and the Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Award in 2011; Amulet 2: The Stonekeeper's Curse; Amulet 3: The Cloud Searchers; and Amulet 4: The Last Council.

Copper, his popular web comic, was published in January 2010. Kazu is also founder and editor of the Flight Anthologies, a critically acclaimed comics series, as well as the creator of Daisy Kutter: The Last Train, a winner of the YALSA Best Books for Young Adults Award in 2006. Born in Tokyo, Kazu moved to the U.S. with his mother and brother when he was a child. He graduated with a degree in Film Studies from the University of California Santa Barbara, and then moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. He currently lives with his wife and son in Alhambra, and works full-time as a comic book artist.

Monday, May 16, 2011

11:00 am: ANDY RUNTON- "Owly" creator Andy Runton will present an all ages reading from his "Owly" books. This will take place in the children's program area of the library.

3:00 pm: Comics in World History & Cultures

A whirlwind look at comics around the world and throughout human history, featuring specific classroom models to stimulate discussion, facilitate student exploration, and encourage creative synthesis. Experienced teacher and cartoonist Marek Bennett (M. Ed.) presents units on modern Japanese history, medieval European history, ancient Mayan culture and mathematics, local history research, and more, including ways these primary sources engage and develop students' powers of graphic literacy, non-linear reading and synthesis, focused research, and other 21st century skills!

Sunday, May 22

Ocean Gateway, Portland

Maine Comics Arts Festival

Doors open at 10:00 am, festival ends at 5:00 pm

Meet over 100 comic writers, artists, publishers and cartoonists who will be exhibiting all day.

Programming (at Ocean Gateway, lower level)

10:30 am:

Colleen AF Venable is the author of the kids’ graphic novel series GUINEA PIG, PET SHOP PRIVATE EYE illustrated by Stephanie Yue. Join her for a fun interactive reading and hands-on storytelling workshop for kids. Learn how to come up with characters, create your own stories, and make your own comics!

11:30 am:

Meet Lincoln Peirce, creator of "Big Nate".

We will discuss the history of his nationally syndicated comic strip Big Nate and his new series of books, and find out what makes Nate tick.

12:30 pm:

The Center for Cartoon Studies Presents:

The One-Sheet Workshop!

Join us for an introduction to the Center for Cartoon Studies and a discussion of some quick, easy and inexpensive ways to publish your own comics. Participants will create an 8-page minicomic using only one sheet of paper!

1:30 pm:

Portfolio reviews from the Center for Cartoon Studies:

Robyn Chapman and Jon Chad from the Center for Cartoon Studies will provide artists with reviews of their portfolios.

2:30 pm: Rick Parker's 1 Hour Crash Course in Cartooning:

Rick Parker is widely known as the artist of "MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head Comic Book" and also draws the Introductory Pages of "Tales From The Crypt" and the graphic novels "Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid" and "Harry Potty" for Papercutz. Join him as he teaches what you need to know about drawing the human figure as a cartoon character.

4:00 pm: A live reading/ performance from AudioComics!

"What if someone crossed The Munsters with The Addams Family— and dumped this crazed creation in a place where monsters are normal, bad is good, and ugly is in demand? You’ll find out this spring, when The AudioComics Company records its first full-cast audio comedy for children and creatures of all ages! Meet…The Batsons!

"The Batsons", a backwards bunch of green-skinned ghouls hatched by the demented brains of best-selling children’s book writers Justine & Ron Fontes, are a spooky-kooky family of misfit monsters who reside in Flemme Falls, the capital of Halloween where 'awful is lawful and everyone’s mean.' As a special preview of the forthcoming audio series, Ron and Justine Fontes will be joined by AudioComics director Bill Dufris (the voice of TV's "Bob the Builder") between 4 and 4:30 for a reading of short Batsons stories for kids ages 5 to 105, including The Champ of Camp Damp, The Thingasaur Who Wanted More, and The Terrible Thang About Ying and Yang. Think your family’s strange? Try spending time with The Batsons at the Maine Comics Arts Festival!"

Monday, April 25, 2011

Anne Barrett: Anne has quietly cartooned in the background while supporting herself as an animation in-betweener, a multimedia developer, and a web designer. Her “Another Day Comics” strip was featured in publications in Hawaii and the New York metropolitan area back in the 90’s. After relocating to Vermont in 1995 she withdrew the cartoons from the public arena and focused on making a living at a “real” job. She spent two years in Maine in the late “Oughts” where her work resurfaced at Portland’s First Friday Art Walk. Her latest plan is to make her work available for viewing and purchasing at her web site www.anotherdaycomics.com.

In addition to the comic strip, Anne is also an award-winning animator and a performance artist, routinely participating in “Women in Limbo Presents” at the Knitting Factory in New York.

Art School Fraud is an art's and entertainment website and podcast revolving with a focus on the North American comics scene. It is owned and operated by Matt Young and Christopher "Radical" Warren, two New England independent cartoonists and CCS alumni.www.artschoolfraud.com

Cara Bean: Cara Bean is a cartoonist, painter, and art teacher. Her favorite color isgreen and she is fond of hiking around, eating nachos, drinking tea, and coveting people’s dogs. She lives and makes art at Lincoln Studios in Waltham, MA. Cara will be debuting a comic at MECAF that she began at the Center of Cartoon studies last summer. You can get a peek at her sketchbook here:http://beandoodling.blogspot.com/

Carol Burrell is editorial director for Lerner Publishing Group’s Empire State Building-based graphic novel imprint, Graphic Universe, and on the side creates the webcomic SPQR Blues about life in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. In addition to a scary number of years editing children’s books, she has worked as an art director for a roleplaying-game company; as an online game developer; for a newspaper in London; and for the Children’s Book Council.http://spqrblues.com/IV/

Center for Cartoon Studies

Jon Chad has been producing handmade mini comics and zines since 2006. He has illustrated children's books published by Mascot Books, including one for the FBI. Jon teaches screen printing and book making, and offers weekly lab intensives at the Center for Cartoon Studies. His book, "Leo Geo and His Miraculous Journey Through the Center of the Earth" has been picked up by Roaring Book Press and is scheduled for release in Fall 2011. http://www.jonchad.com

Robyn Chapman: Since receiving her BFA in Sequential Art, Robyn Chapman has been independently producing, publishing and printing her own comics and zines.Robyn’s work has been featured in several anthologies and publications,including Scheherazade, Stuck in the Middle, the NY Metro and Seven Days.She also edits and publishes a hand-crafted journal dedicated solely toeyeglasses titled Hey, 4-Eyes! In 2005 Robyn became The Center for CartoonStudies' first fellow, in 2008 they awarded her with an MFA. She iscurrently a CCS adjunct faculty member, and has taught cartooning inafter-school programs, workshops, and at the New School in New York City.

Brian Codagnone is the creator of the comic strips "Misfits", "S1019" and "In The Zone" and the humor column "Emotional Chaos", all of which can be seen at http://www.corbettfeatures.com/. He is also the author of the books "The Hartford Whalers", "Hey, America! It's Misfits Time!" and co-author of "The Boston Garden" and "The Bruins in Black and White" volumes 1 and 2, all of which should be required reading for every man, woman and child in North America and the more enlightened parts of Europe (sorry, Luxembourg).

Well known to all the hipsters, glitterati and bouncers in town, he's a cartoonist, writer, historian, international playboy by day and crime fighter by night. Living by the credo "What's in it for me?", he'll do almost anything to sell cartoons short of ghosting "The Family Circus". He lives under an assumed identity somewhere in Massachusetts.

Barry Corbett: Corbett Features is a cartoon and illustration syndicate supplying content for print and multi-media. Co-owners Barry Corbett and Brian Codagnone display their work at http://www.corbettfeatures.com/.

Barry is a freelance magazine cartoonist and self-published author of 3 trade paperbacks. His panel cartoons have appeared in national publications including Barron's, American Legion, Lacrosse Magazine, Medical Economics, Christianity Today, and many others.

Barry released his first book in 2006. "Embrace the Pun!" is a collection of pun-based panel cartoons. He followed that up in 2010 with "Revenge of the Pun!" which is also available in e-book format. "Kitty Nirvana: The First Ginger & Shadow Collection" won a Silver Medal at the 2008 IPPY Awards, presented by Independent Publisher Magazine.

A graduate of the Vesper George School of Art in Boston, Barry teaches Cartooning, Photoshop and InDesign at local colleges. Barry's panel cartoons can be licensed for PowerPoint and business presentations through http://www.corbettcartoons.com/.

Ellen Crenshaw:Ellen T. Crenshaw grew up in south Florida, but moved to the unpredictable Northeast to pursue her illustration career. Her clients include Beer Advocate Magazine and Boston's The Weekly Dig (among others); she freelances at children's media company, FableVision; she is a member of the lady illustrators group, Girls Drawin' Girls; she has been published in comics anthologies Inbound and ZombieBomb!; and she regularly exhibits her work all over the United States. Currently, Ellen lives in East Boston with her animator husband and military kitty-cat. Her work can be found at www.etcillustration.com. For most recent updates, see her blog at etcillustration.blogspot.com.

Travis Dandro is the creator of the comic strip Mr.Gnu which has been featured in dozens of college newspapers since 1997. His most recent project Journal was selected as a notable comic in the 2010 The Best American Comics anthology. Travis lives in Maine with his wife and three sons.http://www.travisdandro.comhttp://mrgnucomic.blogspot.com/

Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon are the artists for The Last Unicorn series from IDW. In addition, they have worked on numerous other comics including Rogue Angel and Sonic the Hedgehog. http://raydillon.blogspot.com/

Randall Drew: Randall Drew is an Upstate NY illustrator and cartoonist who now lives and works in Vermont, where he graduated from the Center for Cartoon Studies' class of 2010. Under his RKDIA COMICS label he continues to work on his fledgling fantasy comic Citadel, as well as do illustration work for albums, books and the web. http://randalldrew.com

Jesse DuRona is a native Vermonter now in Senior year at the Center for Cartoon Studies, as a part of the class of 2011. His All-ages, sci-fi adventure comic Capek follows the adventure of a space cowboy bounty hunter, an alienated robot and a curious toddler across the universe as they try to stop a galactic war from breaking out! http://therealdurona.com/

Ariel Finkelstein BestPestStudio is a pair of cartoonists who have come together to fight evil and draw comics. (Mostly the second one.) http://www.bestpeststudio.com/

Bob Flynn was born in Buxton, Maine and raised on a steady diet of cartoons. He currently lives in Boston where he works as Director of Animation for the children’s media company, FableVision. Driven by an obsession with offbeat cartoons, he keeps busy drawing nonsensical creatures and characters to spin into comics. He is the co-creator of Heeby Jeeby Comix, and his work appeared in Nickelodeon Magazine, including several SpongeBob Squarepants comics.

Colleen Frakes graduated from comic book college and works in a library. She was awarded a Xeric Grant to publisher her book "Tragic Relief" in the fall of 2007. In 2009, her second comic "Woman King" won an Ignatz award for Promising New Talent. http://www.tragicrelief.com

Zack Giallongo: Zack Giallongo was born in the snowy month of December in 1979. He was educated at the Francis J. Burke Elementary School in Medway, Massachusetts. He went on to complete other higher levels of education, too. Zack draws pictures and writes words. His greatest ambition is to become a minor-enough celebrity to be on either NPR’s "Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me" show, or one of VH1’s decade-remiscience shows so that he can say "Aw, yeah! I remember He-Man!" http://www.zackgiallongo.com/

Lawrence Gillette

Griffin has been illustrating and web designing professionally since 2006 and is currently in school full time for forensic psychology. His newly blossoming comics career has him working with Homeless Comics on the HEALED series and Fat Cat Funnies. View more of his work at ShadedAreas.com.

Howard Hopkins HOWARD HOPKINS (www.howardhopkins.com) is the author of 33 westerns under the penname Lance Howard, six horror novels, three children’s horror novels (The Nightmare Club series) and numerous short stories under his own name. His most recent western, The Killing Kind, is a Dec. 2010 release and his most recent horror series novel, The Chloe Files #2: Silver of Darkness, is available now. He’s written and edited widescreen and panel comic books, graphic novels and short story anthologies for Moonstone, along with editing and writing for The Avenger Chronicles and Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook. He’s also created a new pulp heroine called The Veil and has published stories in The Spider Chronicles, The Green Hornet Chronicles and The Captain Midnight Chronicles.

Cathy Leamy is a Boston-based cartoonist and the creator of the autobio/humor minicomic series Geraniums and Bacon. Her anthology work includes stories in I Saw You? and The Girls' Guide to Guys' Stuff as well as historical research and co-writing for the Marvel Comics anthology Women of Marvel: Celebrating Seven Decades. She is a long-time member of Boston Comics Roundtable and has published stories in their anthology Inbound. Read more at her website: www.metrokitty.com

Sara Lindo is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts. She has created several comic books, including the "Carl Finds Love" series, "Wall Street Cat" and "Lobotomy". http://www.thelindo.com

Andrew McKenzie

Dan Mazur is a Boston-based artist and writer, and long-time member of the Boston Comics Roundtable. He created the comics "Lummox," "Palindramas," and "The Way it Crumbles," and is a contributor and co-editor of the BCR anthology "Inbound." He recently founded the Ninth Art Press, which published "Show and Tell: a Collection of Comics About Teaching and Learning." www.danmazurcomics.com, www.ninthartpress.com, www.bostoncomicsroundtable.com

Carl Mefferd is a caricaturist from Connecticut who is working on his MFA at the Center for Cartoon Studies as a part of the class of 2011. His Senior Thesis Project is "Waking Dreams" a story that crosses reality with a fantasy dream world!

George O’Connor: George likes to write. A lot. He’s created over 60 short films and the webseries 664-The Neighbor of the Beast (lazyhorde.com). He’s currently writing the ongoing comic series HEALED for Homeless Comics (homelesscomics.com). He also juggles playing guitar in his metal and punk rock bands. By day, George is a mild-mannered copywriter in the advertising world. He once put a truck on the moon.

Corey Olmstead Maineland Studios/Pillage Comix is the love child of local Portland, Maine graphic artist Corey Olmsted along with creative writer and classic "that guy", Jesse Savage of Boston, Ma. Originally started in the Basement of Mousse Cafe in Monument Square, 2008. We are a small indie publishing company that has self produced over 7 comic titles in the past two years with many more to come. Check our blog @ www.mainelandstudios.wordpress.com

Rick Parker is widely known as the artist of "MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head Comic Book" and also draws the Introductory Pages of "Tales From The Crypt" and the graphic novel "Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid" for Papercutz …

Shelli Paroline

Lincoln Peirce is a cartoonist/writer and the creator of the comic strip Big Nate. It appears in more than two hundred U.S. newspapers and online daily at comics.com.

Jeff Pert is an award-winning cartoonist whose work can be seen on tacky merchandise throughout New England and other parts of the US, maritime Canada, and the Caribbean. Enamored of cartoons and comics since he was a boy and his Dad gave him the very first two "Peanuts" collections (the selling of which would now allow Jeff to retire, if only he hadn't nearly destroyed the books), his work has appeared in newspapers, magazines and on the sides of vans. One of his bumper stickers was spotted in Hawaii, which is not nearly as satisfying as being spotted in Hawaii himself. Jeff lives in mid-coast Maine with a jumpy cat and too many books. You can see his work at www.jeff-pert.com and www.entertainyamania.com.

Morgan Pielli: INDESTRUCTIBLE UNIVERSE QUARTERLY. Morgan Pielli's acclaimed series continues with more tales of science fiction and the surreal! Experience the terror of the "Living Room." Learn the secret of "Picker." Feel the pull of "The Twisting Kiss." And so much more! Find INDESTRUCTIBLE UNIVERSE 7 and author Morgan Pielli at the bright red table and say hi! http://www.morganpielli.com/

Jay Piscopo is the author and illustrator of The Undersea Adventures of Capt’n Eli all-ages graphic novel series. http://www.captneli.com

He has been making state-of-the-art children's entertainment for nearly 20 years. His passion for using the computer as his canvas led him to develop his unique signature style of combining 2D characters with 3D backgrounds.He served as an art director at Tom Snyder Productions, where he led the creative team in the production of educational CD-ROMs, including the award-winning Fizz and Martina Math Adventures and was as an animator on the ABC Saturday morning show Squigglevision.He was also the co-creator of the internationally distributed comic book series featuring the world’s first disabled superheroes, The Scrap City Pack Rats, which he created in partnership with Goodwill Industries. They published a six issue series which received national media attention for its groundbreaking approach and subject matter.Jay is an engaging presenter who has conducted hundreds of comics workshops and classroom events teaching drawing and storytelling techniques. He resides in his home town of Portland, Maine.

Joe Quinones has worked for Marvel, DC and Dark Horse Comics and is quickly establishing himself as one of the top comic cover artists working today. He also was the artist of the Green Lantern story in the critically acclaimed "Wednesday Comics" series from DC Comics. His covers have included Amazing Spider-Man and Star Wars, just to name a few. See more of his work here.

Aya Rothwell currently lives in Arlington, MA. Aya was recently attacked by a Canada Goose when she foolishly walked too close to its nest. (She apologized and ran away.) Aya's minicomics include "The Wolf and the Sun" "Mark and the Aliens". She also has stories published in the "Inbound" and "Show and Tell" anthologies. www.AyaRothwell.com

Kenan Rubenstein

Emily Sauter

Steve Seck is a graduate of the Center for Cartoon Studies. He currently resides in Jersey City, NJ, where he makes "Life is Good", a comic about the continuing non-adventures of an unemployed beer bottle & his homeless alligator friend. http://www.secktacular.com

Rick Silva

Christina Siravo

Matt Smith

Kristi-lyn Stevenson: kristilyn is an artist of many mediums and many methods residing in boston with a small flock of felines. she has and always will enjoy making comic zines and drawing lurid and lovely things. website: zombie-romance.comkristilyn.com

Betsey Swardlick & Team Werewolf

Hugh Tims

Mort Todd was raised in Yarmouth, Maine and immediately moved to New York City after high school graduation and ended up as writer, artist and/or editor at Marvel Comics, DC, Fantagraphics and other publishers. He became Editor-in-Chief of the infamous Cracked magazine at 23, where he also started the popular Monsters Attack title. At Marvel he launched the Marvel Music line where he worked personally with the Rolling Stones, KISS, AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie and others to create comics based on their bands. He has collaborated with a wide variety of comic legends ranging from Steve Ditko, Don Martin and John Severin to Dan Clowes, Neil Gaiman and Peter Bagge. Characters he has worked on include Superman, Conan, Spider-Man and Speed Racer. He is also an animator and filmmaker through his company Comicfix. He produced the film The Diabolikal Super-Kriminal about the Sadistik photo comics he publishes and is developing an animated series based on the character with Iggy Pop as voice actor.

Underburbs

Colleen AF Venable grew up in the trees of Walden, New York….well, not very high up the trees, since she always got scared, but she did carve her name in a lot of low hanging boughs. Colleen had an older sister, a dog, a cat, a million fish, and an imaginary pet hamster named, yup you guessed it, Hamisher. Why have an imaginary friend when you can have an imaginary friend that can fit in your pocket! Colleen went to Wagner College and double majored in English and Studio Art, winning the award of "biggest dork" (aka first in her class) and writing plays which went on to be produced Off-Off-Broadway. Her whole life she always loved reading comics—Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, and she wore out her copy of the Muppets: Short, Green and Handsome—but it wasn't until she started to get into webcomics that she also fell in love with the idea of writing comics. Now Colleen lives in New York City and her day job is designing graphic novels for First Second Books while her night job is writing graphic novels about a not-so-imaginary-anymore hyperactive hamster named Hamisher for Graphic Universe, the graphic novel imprint of Lerner Publishing Group. She thinks the world is a very lovely place.http://www.colleenaf.com/

Jason Viola writes and draws the depressing webcomic, "Herman the Manatee" (www.hermanthemanatee.com). He lives near Boston with his wife and cat.